Xu Xiangqian's life has experienced a process of ups and downs, and during the earlier agrarian revolution, he was the commander-in-chief of a front army, and his record was the best in the whole army.
In particular, against the "six-way siege", he commanded 80,000 troops of the Red Fourth Front Army to fight against 200,000 enemy troops, and finally won a great victory of destroying 80,000 enemies, creating a precedent for the operation of our party's large corps.
It's just that his military career has not been smooth sailing, and there are indeed three major imperfections.
Why, then, could he still be awarded the rank of marshal?
This first point of imperfection comes from the choice made when dividing the troops on the grass.
In June 1935, the Red Front Army and the Red Fourth Front Army met in Maogong, which was a very happy thing, but Zhang, the leader of the Red Fourth Army, relied on the strength of his troops and horses to constantly ask for power from the central government, which made the relationship between the two sides delicate.
Xu Shuai and other senior cadres of the Red Fourth Front Army were even more difficult to be caught in the middle. Zhang still understood that he couldn't turn his face in person, so he pretended to agree with the central government's decision to go north, and was ready to choose another time to achieve his goal.
After that, the Central Military Commission formed the Left Route Army with the Red 5th Army, the Red 9th Army, the Red 31st Army, the Red 32nd Army, and the Red 33rd Army, and the Right Route Army with the Red 1st Army, the Red 3rd Army, the Red 4th Army, and the Red 30th Army.
Xu Shuai was assigned to the Left Army, which was dominated by the Red Side, and at first he got along very well with the central leaders, and he also cooperated to build a charter seat, and successfully obtained a large number of supplies.
However, the Right Route Army, which was supposed to go north, hesitated at Maulgay at this time, entered the meadow and quickly retreated.
In everyone's confusion, Zhang Mou, the leader of the Red Fourth Front Army, showed his fangs and wanted to coerce the central government to go south by force, but fortunately, Ye Jianying saw an important telegram submitted to the central government in time, and Chairman Mao and others led the Red 1st Army and the Red 3rd Army to the north alone overnight.
Before leaving, the chairman had an exchange with Xu Shuai, Xu Shuai was very hesitant, and in the end the chairman could only say goodbye.
Xu Shuai wrote about the scene after the departure of the Central Committee in "Review of History":
"That morning, the former enemy headquarters opened the pot, and people came and went, and there was a lot of commotion. 'Men don't flick when they have tears', but in those two days, I thought about it, I couldn't sleep all night, and I couldn't help crying secretly.
I'm conflicted. Well, I can only take a guard and ride a horse to chase after him. At that time, Chen Changhao's prestige was no less than mine, he could speak and write, fought bravely, and was a political commissar.
I can't lead the team alone, at most I can quietly take a few people. After thinking about it, I decided to be with the troops and wait and see!" But for whatever reason, his decision had a great impact on himself.
Xu Shuai's second imperfection lies in the fact that he has to shoulder a certain amount of responsibility for the defeat of the Western Route Army.
History proved that the path to the south was not correct, and the Red Fourth Front Army eventually went north to join the central division. However, due to the heavy garrison of the Kuomintang at the ferry, the troops that could not cross the river in time formed the Western Route Army, preparing to open up the Hexi Corridor and obtain Soviet assistance.
The commander-in-chief of the Western Route Army was Xu Shuai, and although he had strong military capabilities, the Communist Party had no mass base in Ningxia and it was extremely difficult for him to survive and develop. After months of hard fighting, the Western Route Army ended in defeat.
As the commander-in-chief, Xu Shuai should find a way to stabilize people's hearts at this critical moment and take as many people out as possible. However, after the discussion of the Military and Political Committee of the Western Route Army, he and Chen Changhao left the team.
For this matter, Xu Shuai was very guilty, and still said apologetically in his later years:
I didn't want to leave at the time, but I didn't insist on staying. In fact, Li thought of them first and didn't want me to go. I accommodated Chen Changhao's opinion, made the mistake of lifelong regret, and felt guilty.
After separating from the army, Xu Shuai also had a miserable life, pretending to be a merchant and a beggar, and it took several months before he arrived in Yan'an. After he saw Chairman Mao and others, he couldn't help but shed tears.
The chairman was relieved: If you stay in the green mountains, you don't have to worry about running out of firewood, it's good that you can come back, why don't you worry about having no eggs? It's just that the head of a unit has almost completely wiped out the whole army under his command, and he still has to bear a certain amount of leadership responsibility.
Xu Shuai's third imperfection is that there are no particularly bright achievements in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Xu Shuai did not become the division commander or political commissar of the three main divisions of the Eighth Route Army, but only served as the deputy commander of the 129th Division. For example, if there was a chaos in southern Hebei, he was transferred to deal with it; when Shandong was not reunified, he turned to preside over the overall situation.
However, Xu Shuai did not take charge of any area independently for a long time, and only worked in Shandong for more than a year before returning to Yan'an due to illness, and has not participated in the command since then.
The situation in the Liberation War was similar, Xu Shuai did not serve as the leader of the field army, and the troops used in the fierce battle in Shanxi were not the main force in North China, and the final liberation of Taiyuan was completed by Mr. Peng.
Since there are the above imperfections, why can Xu Xiangqian still be rated as a marshal? Simply put, it can also be summarized in three points:
First, he was the commander-in-chief of the Red Fourth Front Army and was the banner of this main force. Of the more than 1,600 founding generals of New China, more than 700 came out of the Red Fourth Front Army, nearly half of the total.
There is a general idea in the army that one will be prosperous and one will lose, and if the commander-in-chief is unable to evaluate the commander, most of the more than 700 founding generals will have opinions in their hearts.
Second, after the division of troops on the grass, Xu Shuai also made several correct choices at critical moments. Serving as the commander-in-chief of the front army is only the foundation, and if the subsequent performance is not good, it will also be difficult to get the commander-in-chief, as is the case with the general political commissar of the front army with a higher status than him.
Xu Shuai's commendability is that he made the right choice later. In fact, on the morning of the separation from the Central Committee, someone once asked "whether to fight or not", and Xu Shuai immediately refuted: How can there be any reason for the Red Army to fight the Red Army?
It was a powerful phrase that prevented a split. In the process of going south, he gradually realized Zhang's mistake and no longer blindly followed gullibility.
At the Minzhou Conference in mid-September 1935, Zhang was afraid of being criticized by the central government, but still wanted to lead the troops westward and was reluctant to go north.
The reason why Zhang dared to make unreasonable moves all the time was because he had many troops under his command, and Xu Shuai, who had the greatest prestige in the army, was no longer on his side, and that confidence disappeared in an instant. On 30 September, the troops began to divert and set off north, and the three main forces were able to join forces.
Later, the Western Route Army was defeated, and Political Commissar Chen did not dare to return to Yan'an out of fear. Xu Shuai has always been concerned about the organization, and he has to go back to the central government and bravely assume his responsibilities after all kinds of hardships. This party spirit made Chairman Mao appreciate it very much.
The third is that Xu Shuai works hard and has no complaints about any arrangement. After entering the War of Resistance Against Japan, Xu Shuai's status is not as high as before, and if he is replaced by someone else, he will definitely be dissatisfied.
But Xu Shuai has always maintained an attitude of not fighting or grabbing, and he will go wherever the organization tells him to go. It was not easy to develop an area in a decent way, and when an order was transferred, he immediately carried it out and never contradicted it.
He is like a brick of the revolution, which he moves wherever it is needed. With such a high status at the beginning, and the subsequent style, the title of marshal is well deserved.
Although there are three major imperfections in Xu Shuai's military career, his contributions and abilities are still obvious to all. And in recent years, the official and non-governmental evaluations of Xu Shuai have become higher and higher, and the big waves of sand are really gold!